26-year-old LIer wins Super Bowl ad contest

The Super Bowl hasn’t started. But as the New York Giants gear up to face the New England Patriots, it looks as if one New Yorker has already scored a big victory.

Chevrolet announced it will air an ad titled “Chevy Happy Grad” by Zachary Borst, described by the company as “a 26-year old Long Island resident,” during the Super Bowl.

Chevrolet said Borst’s ad beat out competitors in a field of 400 scripts and 198 films by independent filmmakers from 32 nations as part of its Route 66 Super Bowl ad contest.

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The ads generated more than 32 million total views on the site, where the public could view and comment on them. That’s small change compared to the 110 million TV viewers Chevrolet expects will see the ad during the Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5. Chevrolet selected the winners, rather than tabulating viewer votes.

“We asked filmmakers to depict life’s journey and how Chevrolet is there along the way,” General Motors Global Chief Marketing Officer Joel Ewanick said in a written statement. “When I saw Zach’s spot, I had to laugh, because the situation is something many families can related to – expectation and reality.”

Chevrolet said the ad, in which a graduate literally jumps for joy when he believes he’s getting a Camaro as a graduation gift, was filmed on location near Borst’s Long Island home in a “weather window” that only gave him four hours to shoot.

“My dad was a cop and worked real hard to be able to buy his kids their first cars. They were used, but mine meant the world to me,” Borst is quoted as saying in a Chevrolet release. “Then I wondered what it would look like if I got a brand new Camaro? I mean, after all, who wouldn’t want a Camaro as a graduation gift?”

The ad shows a graduate who becomes ecstatic when he sees his parents announcing a graduation gift, as they stand near a Chevrolet Camaro. The graduate assumes the car is for him, until he sees a neighbor drive it away.

Borst on the website for Goat Farm Films, which he founded, describes himself as writer, director, producer, editor, dreamer and craftsman. “Goat Farm is his [Borst’s] production company,” according to the Goat Farm Films site. “He always joked that if he couldn’t work in the arts, then he would work on a goat farm somewhere. This is his own delightful irony.”

The site indicates Goat Farm has been producing ads for contests on behalf of various companies, rather than being commissioned to do so.

“All spots below were made for commercial contests,” Borst writes on the site, which includes several other spots. “This means everything in the production had to be paid out of pocket by Zachary in hopes of a win. No company to date has ever hired Zach or produced one of his spots. They have purchased them through the contests.”

The Goat Farm Films site also indicates the Super Bowl ad was written, directed, produced, edited, sound designed, and color corrected by Borst. Michael Ilkiw is credited with operating the camera and for “help throughout.”

The cast includes Brett Siddell, Jamie Keohane, Rob Sciglimpaglia, Mark Ilkiw, Steve White, Rob Fattorini, Linda Elizabeth Freund, and “Papa Ilkiw.” Borst also thanks Diane Ilkiw “for the robes” and the Ilkiws for allowing him to use the house.

Borst has a B.A. and an M.F.A. in writing and directing and, according to the site, has spent the last eight years writing, directing, producing, shooting and editing documentaries, short films and commercials.